Improvement in printing-telegraphs



2 Sheets--Sheet L JOHNE. SMITH.

. Improvement in Print ing-Telegraphs. No. 127,111.

Patented May 21,1872.

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r 2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

JOHN EQSMITH. Improvement in Printin'g-Telegraphs Patented May 21,1872.

8m Isare PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E.'SMITH, orv NEW YORK, n. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN PRlNTlNG-TELEGRAPHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 127,111, dated May 21, 1872.

Specification describing certain Improvements in Printing-Telegraphs, the invention of JOHN E. SMITH, of the city, county, and State of New York.

The primary object of this invention is to produce a rapid and reliable printing-telegraph, which shall require but' one main circuit and dispense with local batteries, and which will be found especially useful for telegraphing or reporting stock-exchange quotations and transactions also for private lines.

The invention consists, first, in a certain application of an electromagnetic shunt and its connections, for reducing the resistance of the line and causing the printing to be done by the force of the main current. Secondly, in a certain unison mechanism, whereby each station is made to bring the type-wheels of all the instruments in the same circuit into harmony with its transmitting apparatus. Thirdly, in a peculiar arrangement for stockexchange quotations, of the characters on the type-wheel for the purpose of effecting a rapid transmission of fractional numbers. Fourthly, ina certain combination of the shunt, the unison mechanism, the type-wheel, the escapement, the clock-work, the printing magnet, and a lever and roller, the whole composing, for the most part, the receiving portion of a printing-telegraph, whereby both speed and reliability are insured.

As this invention is restricted to a receiving or printing instrument, and in no way relates to the transmitting portion of a printingtelegraph, I will here state that the transmitter may consist of any current-reversin g mechanism, the motion of which is checked bykeys corresponding to the characters on the typewheel, such, for instance, as described in Letters Patent No. 120,116, issued to me October 17, 1871.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a side view of a receiving or printing instrument having my improvement applied to it Fig. 2, a plan of the same; Fig. 3, a mainly central vertical longitudinal section thereof; and Fig. 4, an edge view of the type-wheel in part.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

A is the main frame for supporting the different magnets, armatures, levers, adjusting springs, and screws; also the type-wheel, its

escapement-wheel, and a train of clock-work for putting said wheels in motion. This clockwork may be moved either by a weight or spring. B is the base portion of the instrument. G (l are electro-magnets, so connected in the same circuits that when the one magnet attracts the other repels a polarized armature, a, which is connected with the pallet 11. This pallet engages with an escapement-wheel, D, fast to the type-wheel, said pallet I) and wheel D forming an escapement to allow of the typewheel being turned step by step as the current is reversed over the line by the transmitter. Arranged in the same circuit is another electro-magnet, 0 which, when charged, attracts soft-iron armatures a a These armatures are of different weight. The lighter one, a is attached to a shunt-lever, E, one end of which, by the action of the magnet is brought into contact with an adjustable screw, 0, which is insulated from the frame of the instrument. This shunt-lever E is moved in its one direction by a spring, d. The heavier armature a is connected with the printing-lever F. As I lay no claim to this lever, the printing roller,

or the device for drawing the paper, it is only necessary here to state that, by the action of the magnet 0 the paper is pressed against the type-wheel and is drawn forward by the opposite movement of the lever F as produced by a spring, (P. G is a balanced or nearly balanced lever, which may be hung loosely upon the shaft of one of the wheels of the clockwork connected with the instrument, and which lever is held steady by light friction, produced, for instance, bythe pressure of a spiral spring, e, arranged to surround the shaft on which the lever is hung. This lever G consequently revolves in common with the motion of the clockwork until checked, as hereinafter described. At one end of said lever is a projection, f, which catches on or against a pin, g, on the shaft of the type-wheel H, by which action the typewheel is locked at a given point to bring it into harmony with the the transmitter. A small lever, I, is suspended on the inside of the frame by a screw or pin, 71. The motion of the lever I is limited in one direction by the locking-lever G, and in the other direction by a pin in the frame, or by a wire, a, extending from the printing-lever F. The movement of the lever G is checked in one direction by the lever I,

andin the opposite direction by a pin project ing from the inside of the frame near the paper-guide J. The lever I forms a connectinglink between the lever G and the wire t, so that the motion given to the wiret by the magnet 0 may push the lever Gin a direction opposite to that given it by the shaft on which it is supported. Instead of the wire i to operate thelever I an independent lever and armature may be used. As previously stated, all the magnets are in the same circuit. The ar rangement of circuits, magnets, and connections is best seen in Fig. 2. One of the usual binding-screws K is connected with the magnet 0 the other binding-screw K is in electrical connection with the frame. One end of the wire of the magnet O is-also connected to the frame at k. A wire extends from the insulated screw 0 to, and is connected with, the circuit at lbetween the magnets and G The line-wire from one direction enters K, While K receives the line from the opposite direction. Thus the route of the current, while the shunt is open, is from K to the frame, through-the frame to it; from thence through the magnets G (l (l to K. When the shuntroute is closed the current avoids the magnets 0 O and goes from K to the frame over the arbor of the lever E, along the latter to the screw 0, from thence to l, and afterward through the magnet (J to the binding-screw K, as before.

The operation is as follows While the transmitter rapidly reverses the current over the line the magnets O G alternately attract and repel the polarized armature a, thus actuating the escapement and allowing the clock-work to carry around the type-wheel step by step, with precisely the rapidity with which the current-reverser moves. These electric impulses are of so short duration that the magnet 0 does not require power sufficient to overcome the tractile force of either of the springs d or d. When, however, the transmitter halts a moment at any character to be printed, with the current flowing in either direction, the magnet (3 becomes sufficiently charged to'over power the delicate spring (1, by reason of which the shunt-leverE is brought into contact with the screw 0, thus forming a shunt to the escapement-magnets C The current now avoids these magnets and passes through only the magnet G and the connection, as hereinbefore described. Inasmuch as I would have the wire in the different escapement-magnets form from one-half to two-thirds the total resistance of the entire circuit, the shunting of the escapement-magnets will double or treble the force of the current, which augmentation will enable the magnet O to actuate the printing-lever. Thus it will be seen that my improved instrument prints, not because of the location of the magnet O in the main circuit, but, by virtue of the action of the shunt, less battery power being employed than will do the printing without the aid of this decreased resistance. Furthermore, as I employ a deadbeat escapement, and the polarized. armature has power to hold itself near either escapementmagnet, the'type-wheel cannot slip out of place while the magnets O are shunted. Whenever the lever F is moved to print, the

branch or wire will, by raising one end of the I lever I, cause the curved end of the latter to push the balanced lever G back from the typewheel shaft further than it can advance during one revolution of the type-wheel; and, as at least one character can and should be printed during each revolution of said type-wheel, it cannot casually be locked to interfere with transmission. Whenever it is desired to bring the type-wheels of all the instruments in the same circuit into unison, the transmitter must be permitted to make three or four complete revolutions without halting to print, during which time the lever G will be sure to move far enough to catch the pin 9, thereby lockin g all the type-wheels in the sameposition. Then if the transmitter be made to halt at the unison character, the action of the magnet 0 will unlock the type-wheel and leave it in harmony with the transmitter.

As my invention is designed principally for gold and stock reporting, and as the numerators of all fractions used in such reporting are odd numbers and the denominators even numbers, I employ some character-as, for instance, a slanting dash, y, Fig. 4--to denote the usual dividing-line in vulgar fraction, and place all the odd digits before said dash in order of the revolution of the type-wheel, and all the even digits after said dash, so that the three elements of said fractions will always be presented to the printing-point in the precise order required without that loss of time which would frequently ensue were the digits placed in the usual numerical order. The fractions used in stock quotations being 3; g g g g it will be seen, by reference to Fig. 4, that if the typewheel revolves as indicated by the arrow z, any one of said fractions can be made during nine thirty-sixths of a revolution of the type wheel, thirty-six being the whole number of characters on it.

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A shunt applied to the escapement-mag- I nets of the type-wheel of a printing-telegraph for operation, so that, at the moment of printing, the current is diverted from said escapement magnets, thereby rendering the other magnet or magnets in the same main circuit more powerful.

2. A unison mechanism for bringing the type-wheel of a printing-telegraph into harmony with the transmitter, composed of a pin in the shaft of the type-wheel, a lever held by light friction on the shaft of one of the wheels of the clock-work of the receiving instrument for catching said pin, and a lever or levers moved by electromagnetism for pushing the first-11am ed lever in a direction opposite to that in which it is moved by the clock-work.

3. A type-wheel for recording numerical quotations with the odd digits, or such of the odd digits as occur as numerators in the fractions used, placed before ai'ractional sigh as regards their presentation to the printingroller or pad, and with the even digits, or such of the even digits as are employed in said fractions, placed on the other side of said fractional sign, substantially as specified.

4. The receiving portion of a printing-telegraph, composed, in the main, of the shunt, unison mechanism, type-wheel, escapement,c1ockwork, and printing-magnet lever and roller, substantially as herein described.

1 J. E. SMITH.

Witnesses:

FRED. HAYNES, R. ERABEAU. 

